Cross Country Zen

I became enamored of athletic endurance events relatively late. I was well into my 20's before I was introduced to cross-country skiing. Two friends persuaded my beau of the time and I to enter the Canadian Ski Marathon with them as a team. Together, we completed enough legs to place third -- an exciting moment for a neophyte!

J and I enjoyed ourselves so much, we entered the now defunct Chautaqua Overland Ski Marathon. This too, was fun, and I got to enjoy the fruits of my labor. In fact, I got to enjoy carbs, proteins, and fats; when you're skiing 25 to 50K at a pop, weight control is not an issue.

Equally motivating: a week or so after the race, a friend send me a package. It contained a plaque for second place in my age group. I remember thinking 'wow! If I do this well when I don't know what I'm doing, imagine how well I can do if I take lessons and train!'

I was hooked. For 7 or 8 years, I was addicted to x-c s. It was a lifestyle. Training on roller blades and roller skiis all summer, ski racing nearly every weekend during the all-too-short winter. Vermont, PA, upstate NY, CA (Royal Gorge!). Winters flew by. I enjoyed my food, and could pack away the calories without thought. I loved the winter scenery.

Then came the World Loppet races. The goal is to do all 14 as part of my Bucket List. I've done 5, including the Finlandia Hiihto and the Engadin.

Europeans take x-c seriously. Very seriously. Tens of thousands participate in European races. The 2 years I did the Engadin, there were over 10,00 participants. In the Hiihto, over 14,000 skiers. J and I flew to Finland for the Hiihto about 8 days early. We stayed at a small inn ('all inclusive!') and got used to the time change. We skied daily leading up to the race.

X-c is integrated into Finns' lives; it's not some obscure sport that gets mocked. Everyone in Finland seems to ski. Many roads are closed to cars in the winter -- instead, they're used as ski trails. Kids ski to school, parents ski to work and to run errands. Because of the long nights, street lights are lit to guide people along byways.

I loved being in our little hotel. We'd wake up, eat a hearty breakfast and ski for a couple of hours. We'd come back at lunchtime, eat, and rest for a short period, either napping or watching one of four channels of ski racing. After skiing again, we'd return to rest before dinner (more ski racing), dine, then return to read or watch - you guessed it - more racing. And when I talk about ski racing, I mean x-c, not down hill.

Fond recollections of that trip include eating smoked salmon and boiled potatoes at least once a day. This was a treat remembered from my childhood, thanks to parents from Northern Europe. It was also thrilling to ski the last few kilometers through the twilight, then descend through darkness into the Lahti ski stadium as the announcer trumpeted my name, race number, finish time and home country.

Engaging in the sport centered me. Learning proper skate technique and racing gave me goals upon which to focus. It took the edge off job-related anxiety and frustration. Best of all, flying through the winter landscape was -- is -- simply a joy.

Skiing got me addicted to endurance sports -- I've run marathons and have become a sprint triathlete. Not much of a joiner or a team player, I've definitely got the psyche to spend long, hard, (sometimes boring) hours training for long distance events. There is pay-off: friends I'll have for life, a healthy lifestyle, and goals that will, with training and luck, keep me going for decades.